The invention relates to the field of electrical installations, and particularly to a method for managing the electrical regulation within these installations as a function of curtailment settings.
Electric power providers seek to regulate and predict power consumption by electricity consumers, meaning their subscribers, because the current means of generating power have difficulty responding to large fluctuations in demands for energy.
In addition, the electric power produced by these means is usually much greater than the electric load actually consumed by subscribers, resulting in an overproduction phenomenon.
Electric power providers therefore wish to refine the monitoring of subscriber consumption in order to optimize electricity production to actual energy needs.
To this end, providers offer subscribers electrical installations (meter, panel, inverter, etc.) that can be equipped with management electronics. Such management electronics allow the measurement, processing, and/or communication of data relating to a subscriber's electricity consumption. These data are used, for example, to determine instantaneous consumption, consumption variations, and/or cycles of one or more subscribers, and thus to anticipate the electrical capacity necessary for the subscriber and/or a group of subscribers.
Furthermore, in order to regulate energy demand during peak consumption, providers are applying curtailment settings which aim to regulate consumption by one or more subscribers. It is thus possible for providers to reduce the effective electrical demand and keep it lower than the electric power produced by the production means. To do this, the management electronics for said installations receive the curtailment settings and control consumption of the installation accordingly. More particularly, the management electronics may decide to lower the consumption of the installation as a function of the curtailment settings received, particularly by reducing or even cutting the power temporarily to one or more devices connected to the installation.
However, with this type of electrical installation, it turns out that the management electronics may repeatedly curtail the same devices and/or the same subscribers. The participation of devices/subscribers in the electrical regulation is therefore unequal.
In addition, the devices may be electrically regulated by the management electronics when such regulation may not be suitable for:                proper operation of the device (for example cutting power to a refrigerator when a compression cycle has just started, or cutting power to a freezer too frequently, which can cause the food products stored in it to spoil), or        maintaining the comfort of the subscriber (for example cutting power to heating devices of the subscriber when the ambient temperature in the subscriber's home is low).        
Moreover, when the devices and/or subscribers are “curtailed” (electrically controlled by the management electronics as a function of the curtailment settings received), a spike consumption phenomenon generally occurs (also called a “rebound effect”) when normal power is restored to the curtailed devices and/or subscribers all at the same time. This phenomenon is even more pronounced when a large number of devices and/or subscribers have been curtailed and are simultaneously restored to full power. Restoration of load for the curtailed devices/subscribers tends to create a new and abrupt collapse in the frequency. To compensate, new phases of curtailing installations/devices in the electrical grid may be required.
It is thus understood that there is a need for:                better control of the participation of devices/subscribers in the electrical regulation inherent to curtailment settings; and        reducing or avoiding the consumption peak that follows this regulation.        